Part 31 (1/2)
”I think that you will find them all strangers, my lord,” Beorn said. ”I believe they came from beyond the sea to do this deed.”
The man whom Wulf had first slain was evidently by his dress a person of some rank; the other was of inferior station, as was also, as it was found, the man Beorn had killed.
”Now, my lord bishop,” the king said calmly, ”we have a right next to ask you how these men came to be in your palace. Know you aught of them?”
”I know nothing of them,” the bishop replied. ”So far as I am aware I have never seen any of their faces before, and a.s.suredly they were not here with my cognizance. I will at once question all my people shrewdly, and woe be to him who has admitted strangers here unknown to me at the time when you were beneath my roof.”
”And have this house searched from bas.e.m.e.nt to roof, bishop. It may be that there are others in hiding.”
”With your permission, my lord,” said Beorn, ”I will at once take your men, of whom we have posted six under your window, and will call up some more and search the town. It is likely that there are others without with horses held in readiness for these a.s.sa.s.sins to escape.”
”Do so, Beorn. It will be well if we can catch some at least, so that we can get to the bottom of this matter.”
The bishop at once ordered his armed retainers to accompany Beorn, and then proceeded to interrogate his officials and the domestics, and to see that the latter made a complete search of the palace. All denied any knowledge of strangers having entered, and the search revealed nothing but four monks' gowns and hoods found wrapped up in a bundle in a small room downstairs. Further questions had been then put. Some of the domestics remembered that four monks had entered the palace late in the evening, and one of the under chamberlains said that he had seen them, and they had told him that they had just arrived from Flanders, and craved permission to sleep in the palace for the night, as they were going on to Peterborough in the morning. He had told them that this was impossible, as he could give no permission without the leave of the bishop, who was at present with the king and could not be disturbed, and that, moreover, every room in the palace was occupied. He had given them the address of a citizen, who would he was sure take them in. They had thanked him, and said that they would go there, but doubtless instead of doing so they had slipped aside, and had hidden themselves in the room where their gowns were found. It was one used only for the storage of garments for poor travellers who came along, and no one was likely to enter it on such an evening.
This discovery was a great relief to the bishop and all within the palace, as it showed that they were not there with the connivance of any of the prelate's people. Before the matter was fully unravelled Beorn returned.
They had in a quiet spot a short distance from the palace come upon two men with six horses. Before they could run up and seize them the two men had leapt up into the saddles and galloped furiously away. Unfortunately the other four horses had followed, and immediate pursuit was therefore impossible. The housecarls had run to the spot where their horses were stabled and had gone off in pursuit, but Beorn feared that the men would have far too great a start to be overtaken. One of the officers had ridden with the housecarls, and Beorn had told him to keep by the river-bank, as the men would a.s.suredly make for a s.h.i.+p that was lying somewhere down the river, though whether at a distance of two miles or of twenty he knew not.
Long before Beorn's return Wulf's wound had been examined. Unguents had been poured into it and bandages applied. The surgeons were of opinion that it was a very grave one, but that at present they could not say how the matter would terminate.
”Your story will keep till the morning, Beorn,” the king said. ”It is still five hours to daylight, and we may as well retire to rest, unless, indeed, you know that there are others engaged in the affair in London or elsewhere who should be arrested before the news of the night's business reaches them.”
”I know of none such,” Beorn said, ”and believe that these four and the two who have escaped were alone concerned in it. I will bring with me in the morning a man and a boy who know more than I do of the matter; they and OsG.o.d, with whom Wulf will a.s.suredly have talked it over, will be able to tell you all that was known up to the moment when these men entered the palace.”
The armourer and Ulf told their story in the morning, and Beorn took OsG.o.d's place by Wulf's bedside, while he too was questioned by the king.
The latter then went to Wulf's chamber.
”What say the leeches this morning, Beorn?
”They are somewhat more hopeful, my lord. They say that his heart beats more strongly than it did last night, OsG.o.d says that he has not moved or opened his eyes, but they say that this is not a bad sign, and that it may be anxiety has brought on an exhaustion, for his breathing is more like that of one who sleeps than of a man wounded to death.”
”His face has grieviously changed since yesterday,” the king said sadly, looking down upon Wulf. ”I would give my right hand rather than that he should die. You have of a surety saved my life among you, Beorn, you and his stout man-at-arms and the worthy armourer and that shrewd apprentice of his for had they entered my chamber and taken me unawares they would have slain me without doubt.”
”I have done the best I could since I learnt from the armourer the suspicion that Wulf entertained, but the whole thing is Wulf's doing. Had I heard that Walter Fitz-Urse was back in London I should have given the matter no further thought than that it was one Norman the more. It was, as he told me, some words that Baron de Burg said when he saw him over in Normandy the other day that first set him thinking. Then, he could not understand why Fitz-Urse should return to London at this time, when Normans are not overwelcome there, and this caused him to have some sort of suspicion as to his reasons for undertaking such a journey, and determined him to set a watch on the fellow's movements. Had it been any other than Wulf who had so acted I should have laughed at his suspicions. But he is as a brother to me, and knowing how sharp are his wits I am always well content to follow him without question. I first heard of the matter after the discovery that the Norman was having secret meetings with some of his countrymen who were concealed on board a s.h.i.+p, and I at once felt sure that Wulf had not been running on a false trail, and so did the little I could to aid those who had the matter in hand.”
”You have done well, Beorn, though as you say it is doubtless Wulf to whom the chief credit is due. I regretted at first that the other two men had escaped, but had they been taken they might, to save their own lives, have implicated others, and I might have been forced to lay a complaint against the Duke of Normandy. As it is now, the matter is at an end. Four men have tried to murder me, and have been killed. Their bodies have been buried this morning, and there is no more to be said about it.
”I was obliged to go down and show myself to the people an hour since, for they a.s.sembled in a great crowd, clamouring to see me so that they might know I was safe. I told them that while I thanked them for their loyal care, there was nought to be alarmed about. It was true that there had been an attempt on my life by four men, of whom the leader had a private grudge against me for a disservice I did him some years ago, but that all had been killed by my guards without even penetrating my chamber, and that I had run no sort of personal risk, nor had I any reason whatever to suppose that the malefactors had accomplices either within or without the palace.”
Late in the evening, when the surgeons were applying pungent salts to his nostrils, Wulf opened his eyes. OsG.o.d was standing beside him holding one of his hands.
”It is all well, master,” he said. ”We finished them all off, and no harm has happened to the king. You have been hurt, but I hope you will soon be better. The leeches say that you are not to talk, and you had best sleep as much as you can. They have got some stuff for you to drink here; do you lie still and I will pour it between your lips.”
A look of intelligence came into Wulf's eyes as OsG.o.d spoke; he smiled faintly, and murmured, ”Thank G.o.d, the king is safe!” He swallowed a few spoonfuls of the potion OsG.o.d held to his lips, and then closing his eyes his regular breathing soon showed that he was again asleep. On the following day the king proceeded on his way to London, Beorn remaining to nurse Wulf. The king would have loaded Ulred with presents, but the st.u.r.dy armourer refused to receive anything save a small gold cup in remembrance.
”I want no reward for doing my duty,” he said. ”I have my trade that keeps me, and should be no happier were I laden with money. All that I have done in the matter has been to watch for a few hours at a window, and to make a journey by s.h.i.+p to York, and I should be ashamed of myself indeed if I could not take that slight trouble for my king without looking for a reward.”
As to Ulf he was thanked and praised, but the king decided to take no steps to alter his condition until Wulf should be well enough to be consulted in the matter. It was a fortnight before the doctors were able to state with any confidence that the young thane was on the road towards recovery, and still another month before he had gained sufficient strength to be carried in a litter to London.